Charred
by CasJuiceUpMyAssbutt
Summary: Sam and Dean are hurled into action when a panicked distress call from Castiel ends in them having to rescue him from dire circumstances. Currently inactive due to work on another fic, but I have a storyline planned out and will *probably* update within the next few weeks. Rated T for gore, will develop into Destiel hurt/comfort ,fluff and romance. Lots of angst.
1. Chapter 1

**_*A/N: Hi guys, made some minor/not so minor edits, I'll post a new chapter for this one soon, sorry for kinda leaving it to rot... I got really caught up with my other fic._**

The sky, black as pitch and flecked with stars, loomed over the empty highway, the dust clouding behind the impala like ink spilled in water. The seemingly never-ending road stretched before it as it sped along, the rattling of gravel and the humming of its engine the only sound to be heard. The driver struggled to keep his eyes open, yet alone on the road. His brother had fallen asleep about 50 miles back. He had half a mind to wake him, just to piss him off, but Dean didn't even have enough energy for that._ Just a few more miles, Dean_, he thought to himself as he rubbed his stinging eyes, G_od I need some sleep._

His eyelids drooped and his head sank onto the steering wheel, His feet slowly pressing down on the accelerator. The car began to drift off its straight course as the steering wheel turned under his weight. But before Dean could successfully drive the impala into the shallow ditch by the side of the road, a sudden explosion of loud music from his right pocket made him (and Sam) jerk violently back into consciousness. Sam jumped, his head banging into the roof of the car and the tires screeched as Dean swerved back onto the road while groping madly in his pocket for the screeching phone.

He flicked it open.

"Dean!" The voice was hoarse and broken

"Cas! What the hell-"

"Dean I need y-" A horrible, guttural coughing echoed through the phone, "Dean help-" more coughing, and a sound somewhere between a scream and a sob.

"What the hell is going on? Where are you?"

"I was- -Raphae- Centrali-" the coughing was more violent, and he broke into a fit of hacks that made Dean cringe. The angel's harsh, ragged breathing tore through the phone.

"State and town! Cas! Cas? CAS!" Dean was struck by a sudden fear and urgency.

"Pennsylvani- C- entrali-Cathe-" Whimpered Castiel- his voice was strained and hard to hear over a ear-splitting, continuous roar of noise in the background. "Quick- holy fir- I'm -"

Static.

The sound ground in Dean's ears with the echoing pumps of his heart. Everything was moving in slow motion, the hollow sound still buzzing painfully in his head. The roaring of fire was gone, the deathly coughs of his friend absent. Only the dead crackle remained.

This is bad.

Silence is bad.

Very bad.

In one deft move, Dean turned the impala around, her tires grinding viciously over the gravely road. Her engine roared and she shot forward, blazing through the dust at speeds she hadn't ran at for years, decades even.

Sam was thrown back against his seat, his startled face a clear beacon of his shock, "Dean!" Sam squinted down the road, _had they turned around?..._"Where the hell-" He caught a glimpse of the intense, almost terrified look in his brother's eyes. "Is Cas okay?" Sam knew the answer before he asked the question.

"No, he's not!" Dean shouted, not on purpose, stress tended to have that effect on him. Despite this, Sam still flinched at his brother's harsh voice." He was fucking_ crying_, and this is _Cas_ we're talking about here, he doesn't do that"

"Crap," Sam found it hard to get his head around the idea of Castiel, mister 'shoot me full of bullets and I'll keep walking', crying, " How bad?"

"I couldn't really hear him but- SHIT" Dean swerved dangerously around a startled coyote in the middle of the road, " Sounded like he said Raphael," Dean's grip on the wheel tightened, "And Holy fire, so if we don't get to fucking Centralia in about twenty minutes, he'll probably be dead" The hunter's voice was sharp and edgy, Sam heard it waver on the word _dead._

"Centralia? That old ghost town in-"

"I know where it is"

"Dean, that's at least three hour's drive, there's now way we can-"

"Shut up Sammy!" Dean stared ahead, gritting his teeth. " I know it's far, damnit, But I can't-" He bit his lip, _was it quivering a bit? _"We can't let him_ die _like that..."

Sam was lost for words. Dean looked like he woudl break down any second, Sam couldn't let that happen. But there was nothign he could possibly- _unless_...

"Dean" The younger Winchester turned to his overtired, shaky brother.

"What?" his voice was nearly acidic, sharp and rough as it left his throat.

"We can try Balthazar". Sam knew it wasn't a reliable plan, but what else could they do?

"Balthazar? Why would-"

"He's friends with Cas, isn't he?!" Dean turned the impala so hard that Sam whacked into Dean's shoulder.

"Do it then!".legality aside, was it even possible for the impala to stay at speeds like this...?

Sam, taken by a tug of fear at Dean's reckless driving, temporarily lost his train of thought.

"Just pray to that European douche-bag already!"

The drive passed in relative silence, Dean driving as fast as the Impala could handle, San spilling out prayer after prayer, for what seemed like hours, years even. He shouted at the top of his lungs as Dean twitched nervously, begging Balthazar to listen to him for second, that his brother was in danger. Everything, every word he uttered seemed pointless, that was, at least, until Balthazar appeared, with a smooth whoosh of invisible wings, in the Impala's back seat.

He was pale and his usually sarcastic, snarky demeanor had vanished.

"Cas you've really done it this time...stupid..."

Sam and Dean jumped.

"What, you thought I wasn't going to show?" He actually looked genuinely offended, "You hurt me boys, you really do."

Dean looked at Balthazar through the rear-view mirror, "Well you took your sweet-ass time"

"Well, Winchester," He eyed daggers at Dean, a much scarier being shining through his stormy eyes for a split second, before being hidden by a feigned nonchalant tone."Unfortunately for me, flying into the side of a cage doesn't much help the canary trapped inside." He inhaled slightly, suave nature all but vanishing as he slouched over and pressed a hand against a patch of swiftly reddening t-shirt on his stomach. _Crap, that looks serious._

"You can't get in?" It was Sam this time, swiveling around to look Balthazar in the eyes.

"No, but you can" Balthazar reached forward towards Sam and Dean, "Oh, and before you drag that imbecile to safety, tell him I told you so"

The second Balthazar's hands touched their foreheads, they were driving on a completely different road, if you could even call it that. There was a colossal crack through its centre and smoke billowed out at a steady pace. The entire place was deserted, no signs of life except a few locusts flying through the air. Ahead, there as a town, empty and run down, just a few lonely buildings crowded around an ancient church.

A church, well, church was an ill-fitting word. It was more like a cathedral, a relic from colonial times. But it's complicated, decrepit and overall eerie appearance wasn't what made it so vivid in Dean's sight. It was... it was fucking glowing, something was lighting it up from inside. A fire? A fire, definitley. A fire so strong and hot that even from the Impala, a good two to three hundred feet away, Sam and Dean felt it's relentless blaze on their skin.

"He's in there, I'm sure of it" Dean didn't want to admit it, but he always got this kind of... feeling whenever Cas was nearby, call it a spidey sense, women's - men's? intuition, whatever, but he could tell the poor bastard was holed up in that church.

As if in protest, the Impala's engine spluttered, running on fumes and incrediblyu overworked, it was over forty years old after all, it wasn't meant for this. Dean patted the headboard, as if this would soothe the machine in someway. "Come on baby, just a bit further..." he stroked the steering wheel as he pressed down on the gas, "You can do this..."

The gas held out just long enough for them to reach the church's rickety gate, age-worn and rotten. On closer inspection, the brother's saw that shambled cathedral's shattered stained glass windows were streaming with jet black smoke. Dean leapt out of the impala and without a word, kicked the church's ancient door so hard it shattered, splinters flying everywhere. Sam tried to stop him, but Dean's arm slipped through his grip. _Damnit Dean could be such an idiot sometimes. _

Dean bolted through broken frame, wheezing as he did. The heat was excruciating, and he could barely breath through the toxic cloud of smoke, but he ran on, eyes watering in the blazing heat.

"Cas!" Dean shouted, gulping in smoke and coughing madly, "Cas! Where are you?!"

The fire roared in Dean's ears, licked at his skin and flared in his lungs. His skin felt like it was sizzling. He ran blindly through the tongues of flame, gasping for air, his head spinning and his body shaking from sudden dehydration- but he wasn't giving up. He screamed for his angel, yet there was no response. He clapped hsi hands together and prayed with all his might, but this, Dean found, was just as helpful as shouting. Great, he'd finally gotten there, hell, he was burnign to a crisp, but he had not plan, not even a vague idea how he was going to find Cas, yet alone get him out of the blazing maze.

As if in response to Dean's doubt, however,a genius plan popped into his head. He shoved his blistering fist into his pocket and yanked out his phone, it's screen cracked in the extreme heat. As he ran, he punched in Cas's number, listening hard for a ringtone over the deafening roar of holy flames.

There it was, barely audible above the sound of burning- it came from the storey above. Dean's heart leapt and he ran as fast as his burning limbs would allow. The stairs, wooden and decayed, had burned right through, leaving only a scalding hot rusted frame. Without giving half a thought, Dean leapt onto it, scrambling up the glowing red mesh like a mad spider, ignoring how the skin on his hand seemed to bubble slightly when he grabbed the bars. He was experienced with pain, maybe not quite this much, but hell, the need to save a friend was killer motivation, and a great distraction.

Upon reaching it, Dean found, with relief, that upper storey wasn't as full of flame as the lower, yet the smoke was much thicker- Dean could barely see through the thick black smog. He called for Cas, heart leaping at the feeble grind of a familiar voice. He turned around and stared in horror, nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

First he saw the blood; red and filled with veins of glowing white, pooled over the floor, staining it ruby red and filling the air with the sickly metallic smell of burnt meat. There was so much of it, more than Dean thought possible, his stomach inverted, guts twisting sickeningly inside him. There were chunks of skin and flesh in the pool- Castiel's skin and flesh. Dean's face twisted in pure, unadulterated horror, his arm thrust over his gaping mouth to block out the pungent stench, then he saw him. Pressed up against the wall, chained to the ground and bloody from head to toe, lay Castiel, still and twisted. His shirt was torn, revealing huge slashes in his stomach and chest, his innards spilling out in front of him. His arms looked broken, yet they wrapped around his waist, in a weak attempt to gather his spilled guts. Bound in chains and snapped like toothpicks, Castiels legs were sprawled on the ground, their skin hanging in strips from bleeding muscle. Dean stood petrified looking down at his friend, barely recognizable for the terrible mutilation's his vessel had endured.

"D-d-ee-a-n" Castiel forced the word out painfully, lips moving impossibly as his his form shook violently. He forced open his bloodshot, yet still brilliantly blue eyes "you- you c-ca" He spluttered as blood dribbled messily out of his mouth.

"Don't talk, you'll just," Dean's voice cracked- "I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?"

Dean knelt down next to Cas, trying to scoop him up as gingerly as possible into his blistering arms. Castiel closed his eyes and his mouth opened slightly, his eyebrows meshed in pain as a single, rare tear rolled down his sallow cheek. His arm jerked in an attempt at movement, but in response, blood shot out of the countless, grotesque slashes in his flesh.

"Oh god- I can't, how can I-" Dean muttered in panic, he couldn't just pick him up like that, not if he wanted Cas to get out of this alive.

He ripped off his old leather jacket and wrapped it tightly around Cas's open waist. An almost inaudible sound escaped Castiel's cracked, blood soaked lips- it chilled Dean to the bone and shook his spine- it wasn't a human sound, nor was it animal. It was an eerie, unsettling, and strangely otherworldly noise. Dean cringed and gritted his teeth.

"Cas- ", whispered Dean, his voice submitting to a fearful tremor. "I promise, it's going to be okay, just don't give up on me, got it?", Dean bit back a sob, "Hold on..."

Then, as gently as he possibly could, the hunter slipped his arms under Castiel's back, gently scooping Castiel into his arms and cradling his pathetic form. The blood-soaked trenchcoat squelched unpleasantly in Dean's grip, and his arms were soon a deep, shiny red, from Castiel's endless bleeding.

"Just hang in there…" He whispered shakily "Don't' die on me-"

He stumbled through the room, dodging flames and ducking away from falling chunks of debris. Dean was blind in the smoke, he couldn't breathe any more and it didn't seem like Cas could either. He squinted for a light, gasped for air. His knees trembled under his and Castiel's weight, he couldn't do it any longer… Then he felt it, a cold slither on his cheek, a sweet taste on his lips. Air. Summoning up the last of his strength, he followed the vein of fresh air, staggering between cases of incinerated books, past melting silver crosses and blackened mats. The breeze was pure, cool on his burnt face, moist to his dried eyes.

A window- a door- he didn't know what it was, but when he reached it, he leapt.

Everything went black.

**_~To be continued~_**

**_A/N: okay so I've planned a significant chunk of the story, I may have a second chapter up here in a couple weeks (and good god, it's going to be written a helluva lot better- I wrote most of this chapter here a year ago; i have improved quite a lot since then, believe you me. The new chapters will be longer, I promise, It's just that first chapters are always pretty short with me, no matter what I do with them. !PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT ANY TYPOS OR WEIRD GRAMMAR, i will probably hug you and make cookies out of gratitude. Reviews are also welcomed with extreme kindness, say what you want! Please, I die over reviews, I really do. _**

**_Anyways, until next chapter, bye guys! ~Casjuice_**


	2. Chapter 2

Ringing.

High, clear and sharp.

Blaring over everything.

A sound like a ship moving through water, a crashing static crawled under the piercing tone.

Crashing heaves of sound became more crisp, varied in pitch. One body of noise became two, then three, then four, then five. A rumbling crackle split from closer, acute sounds. Beeping. There was a definite high beeping rearing its head in the muffled collection of sound. Something almost like a voice, or voices, began to blur into focus, one higher, panicked, others lower, yet frantic.

_Who are they _The hunter's muddled brain had gathered itself to think that one thought. Everything was black and numb, the sounds around him pounded into him in a confused blare. _What's happening?_

Random words were processed by his brain, words like _critical, fast, fading. _What was critical? What needed to happen fast? What was fading? Who was fading? _Am I fading?_

Only as his shaken brain put itself back together did each voice, each word take a personality. Most of them were foreign to him, but one was familiar. _Sammy_

With his brother's voice as a starting point, His memories slid back into place, rolling together in a messy way. A scared voice, a choking smoke, an intense heat, a friend. A mangled, bloody, dying friend.

_Cas_

_Cas was critical_

_Cas needed help fast_

_Cas was fading_

The numbness crept away, his hearing sharpened, his head banished that confused haze. He channelled all of his strength to his lips, parting them to force a strangled croak from his suddenly burning throat.

"Cas-" The voices around him exclaimed, something, someone? touched his shoulder, causing a wave of searing pain to sweep over his skin. "Ah-", even simple sounds were excruciating. "Where-".

He needed to see Castiel, see he was alright. But the effort it took to dredge the words out of his chest slammed into his brain like cinder blocks.

"Calm down honey, sleep" A sickly sweet female voice crooned to him, something pricked his skin. "Just sleep."

"Shut up!" He was trying to sound firm, trying to scare the woman away from him, but his voice was weak, sounding fearful, not fear inducing. "Cas-"Pushing feebly against the hands now holding him in place, Dean tore his eyelids apart.

It was so white. so painfully white. Pain licked through his eyes at the sheer brightness of the tiny room. Room? Ambulance. That's what the rumble was. It was tightly packed and stank of antiseptic and blood.

A crowd of people to his left surrounded a rectangle of space, hiding whatever it was from Dean's speckled sight. A person, young, brunette, dressed in simple light blue pyjama like clothes turned to face him. Her hands, gloved and bloody, held a scalpel. She met Dean's eyes for a fraction of a second before shouting something to the others.

The group pulsed, moving together like a strange amoeba. Each figure blurred into the next in an eerie, scary way. Faces melded into other faces, clothing blurred into other clothing. It was like his world was suddenly transforming into a twisted, Salvador Dali painting.

Lights snaked, he felt light and heavy headed. Eyelids drooped shut, but not fast enough to miss the warped crowd shift to one side, not fast enough to miss that splatter of red that was hiding behind them.

That splatter of red mixed with slithers of torn skin, with fragments of unrecognizable fabric, with ribbons of silver light.

And a pair of shining blue eyes.

* * *

Fire.

Castiel.

Ambulance.

Castiel.

Blue.

Castiel.

Cold.

Castiel.

Cas.

"Cas!"

Dean's eyes flung themselves open to meet a whitewashed ceiling. A tangy, chemical reek flowed into his lungs with a sharp breath. Sharp being the key word as something jabbed into his chest as he forced the air into his lungs. _Shit _Dean exhaled slowly and painfully. _Broken ribs, well fuck me..._

As his senses sharpened, Dean realised that a chest full of broken bones wasn't his only problem. His entire body seethed with a hot pain. Literally every inch of skin as burning, stinging, screaming. The hunter was used to pain, hell, his life revolved around it, but this, this agonizing aching, was so much more than he was used to. His eyes welled up and his cheeks stung as salty tears rolled down them and onto his bed sheets. _Stop fucking cryi- mother of fuck- _Dean nearly swore when the tears found their way into a cut in his cheek, sending scorching jolts through his nerves. He tried to turn his face, shake the water out of the crack in his skin, but a tight brace on his neck held his head firmly in place. _Whoop-dee fucking doo, a sprained neck, lucky me._

He then decided that since movement was futile, his next best option was to get somebody's attention.

"Hey!" A husky voice managed to sneak its way past the tubes taped to his mouth. "Sammy?"

A nasally snort and a shuffling sound emanated from somewhere to Dean's right.

"Morning princess" Dean croaked, his lips turning up at the corners in a sly smile.

"Dean?" Sam leaned into Dean's line of vision, his hair tousled, sticking up comically on one side.

"Live and in the flesh, bitch." Not that his flesh really felt much like flesh...

"No thanks to your stupid ass rescue attempt, jerk." A bit of relief glimmered in Sam's eyes. Obviously if Dean was trying to be funny, he wasn't too fucked up. "You nearly killed yourself."

_Attempt? _A seed of anxiety planted itself in Dean's aching chest. _But Cas was in the ambulance, right? _"Where is he?" Dean tried to make himself sound casual, but a knowing look from his little brother told him he'd failed epically.

"ICU"

"How bad is it?" Dean was relieved that Sam didn't say the morgue or avoid the question, but being in the Intensive Care Unit was never, ever good.

"They didn't say much, but he looked like he'd been put through a wood chipper" Sam turned to the side, rubbing the back of his neck with a slightly shaky hand. "I think they were operating on him" He looked at Dean apologetically, as if this was his fault somehow.

"Well they better fix him up, or so help me..." He clenched his fist and tried to sit up, a decision he regretted instantly.

"Whoa there-" His brother's hand pressed him gently, yet firmly back into the mattress. "I'm sure they're doing their best, just calm down and rest, Dean."

Dean's jaw twitched and he exhaled sharply. _Fucking damn it _His ribs complained at the sudden movement by digging into his lungs. "I'm fine, Sam" He hid his doubt in a stoic tone, "And Cas will be too, he's tougher than he looks..."

Sam gave him a 'whatever gets you through the day' kind of look and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Dean knew he was giving himself a false sense of security, but he didn't want to ponder on the thought of Castiel dying.

A stiff silence took hold of the room as Dean stared at the ceiling, trying not to think, and Sam leaned back into the stiff , faux-leather seat by Dean's bedside. It was broken, however, but an all to familiar whip of wind.

"Cas?" Said Dean hopefully, jerking back into attention.

"Close, but no cigar, darling." The smooth, British accent told Dean that, no, Cas hadn't recovered suddenly and teleported to his bedside, but that Balthazar had decided to pay a visit. "How's the..." Dean assumed the angel was making some kind of hand gesture in the silence. Balthazar wasn't close enough to Dean to be seen, "Well, everything?"

"Shitty."

"Pardon your French, Winchester" there was a hint of a smile in Balthazar's voice, "You do look quite..." Another hand gesture, "for lack of a better word, well done."

Dean snorted, despite his occasional (well, more than occasional) douche-bagginess, Balthazar could make some funny remarks. Even Dean had to admit that. "Mind coming over to where I can see you, asshat?" Again, Dean tried to feign nonchalance or humour, but it was impossible for a voice as croaky as his to sound casual.

"Oh, asshat, sheer class, Dean." Said the angel sarcastically as he wandered over to Dean's bedside, leaning over him and smiling in his usual smirk.

"I do try."

"Antics aside," Balthazar shot a quick glance at Sam, who looked a bit stunned at the angel's sudden appearance. "I came here to thank you."

"Well that's a change" Dean raised an eyebrow, not that there was much eyebrow left, "For what?"

"For saving my imbecile of a brother," Strangely, there was an earnest tone in his voice, he really meant it. "Cassy can be a real idiot sometimes, especially recently..."

"Recently?" What was Cas doing?

Balthazar waved his hand dismissively, "It's nothing, never mind." the remorse was gone, an unfamiliar gentle tone took over, "Anyway, i checked in on him, he's pretty... torn up to put it lightly."

"But is he okay?"

"Depends what you consider okay," He slumped onto a chair next to Sam. "He's still alive."

Dean sighed.

"But his grace is all but vanished." Balthazar hooked one leg over the other and leaned his elbow on his knee. " So he'll heal at a human rate, which, considering his injuries, means he'll be in a coma for months."

_Crap. _"Wait, so you can't even heal him?"

"You really are thick," Balthazar's jaw twitched, "If I could, I would have, but unfortunately for him, Castiel is the best healer in the family, not me."

"So you can't do.. anything?"

"I wouldn't say that, I can heal you."

"Why not Cas?"

"Angels are complicated, consider it like this." Balthazar raised one hand, " In comparison to him, your injuries are like grazed knees, something a five year old can deal with" He raised the other hand. "But Cassy, well, his wounds are like leukemia, something even trained professionals can't get rid of."

Something in Dean's chest tightened. "Is he going to be... shredded like that... forever?"

Balthazar scoffed. "Of course not, he'll heal up eventually, but he'll be scarred, definitely." Balthazar cocked his head and rested it on his palm. "Pity, his vessel was rather nice."

"hmm?" Sam made Dean jump after being silent for so long. The elder Winchester was taking a long sip from a glass of water.

"Well, not as heart stopping as mine, but definitely handsome." the angel looked from Sam to Dean "Not that you need me to tell you that, eh Dean?" then the bastard winked.

Sam spluttered, nearly choking on the water as he chuckled. Dean froze up and was instantly grateful for the burns on his face, they were a pretty effective cover for the deep blush that flushed into his cheeks. He wanted to tell Balthazar to shut his pie hole, but his mouth was dry and his tongue was kind of stuck in place.

Something devilish glinted in Balthazar's eyes and he thumped a hand on Dean's shoulder. He snickered when Dean hissed at the contact.

"Well then Winchesters," Balthazar squeezed Dean's shoulder, which surprisingly, was no longer hurting. "I'll have to be off, I'm late for an appointment with a few dozen burlesque dancers."

"Hey wait, didn't you say you were going to heal Dean?"

"I did, and I have."

Same gave Dean a quick once-over, " Well he doesn't look better."

Dean would tell Sam that he actually was feeling a bit less like Death incarnate, but he was still tongue-tied over Balthazar's comment.

"The spell speeds up the healing process, I can't make the problem vanish like dear old Cassy." He dramatically clutched his chest and screwed up his face in a very theatrical expression of despair, "Oh, my pride!"

Both brother's laughed, a rare occurence, and Balthazar grinned. Then with the sound of flapping wings, he was gone.

**_A/N: hey guys, sorry for the ridiculous wait, and this is such a short chapter too :L , I've been having a lot of technical difficulties with getting this written, my laptops really acting up so I can only write this when I have access to a monitor or the home computer. _**

**_But anyway, if anyone still keep track of this and is still reading this, then thank you so much! I love all of you, and if you have any feedback at all, reviews are welcome, I friggin' love getting feedback, good or bad~! Especially since this is the first time I've tried writing Balthazar and Sam, please tell me if I haven't written them right._**


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